Gears of War 2

[Dazzyman]

I noticed since installing this on the HDD I dont get popup anymore on the textures. Didnt happen once last night on GOW1 and thats terrible for it

[Red Hogg]

Just finished on Normal difficulty. A completely brilliant game, obviously. Gears likes to rock the party. It was, bizarrely though, the

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easiest last level/ end boss I can remember tackling in a long while.

Time to start Mirror's Edge.

[saturn-gamer]

I dont really understand the "moves like a tank" complaints.

Considering all the action takes place while ducking in and out of cover it shouldnt even be an issue if he did move like a tank, but the fact that the controls are so intuative and the whole game seems to be designed with how the characters move in mind means that the complaint just seems silly really.

It had more to do with multiplayer and escaping enemy fire. I found it hard to navigate at times, and sometimes pasted against the walls in GoW1 while I really wanted to roadie run.

[MJ]

I noticed since installing this on the HDD I dont get popup anymore on the textures. Didnt happen once last night on GOW1 and thats terrible for it

Gears 2 still suffers from texture popup for me when playing it from the hard drive.

[MattyD]

But they don't pop up now. They fade in. The march of technology eh?

[Charlie]

Those saying the game is completely brilliant or close to perfect, what are your thoughts on Act4, The Hive?

Did it not leave the impression the game was hurried towards the end as if Epic were, perhaps, fast running out of development time? Without exagerating, I found that stage one of the darkest, brownest, ugliest, most generic parts to any game I've played in a long time. And as for the design, to say it was supposedly built by locusts with defense in mind, wasn't it strange how all the switches to raise/lower cover and access lifts were ideally positioned for those storming the Hive and often out of reach to those defending The Hive? It's thoughtless and illogical level design like that which prevents me from taking the game seriously.

[El Leone]

I thought Act 4 was great.

[Dazzyman]

I think Act 4 is the best Act. Im spoiloring it just incase

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Theirs plenty of switches for the Locust to use when your going in. They have to get in just like you and also get out and Ive had the little buggers use them on me! They wouldnt have even thought about defence when it was built as noone went down their for years and years they went up and attacked the humans not the other way around (you here marcus and dom talking in one when they first go down that its years since anyone set foot down their and marcus goes on to say dont tell cole as hes scared of the dark as it is). Its only now the humans are starting to take the fight to them. We still dont know how it was all built and why yet either lol So no it didnt leave me with the same impressions as you had lol Just coming back from 2 after another playthru of 1 the colours and lighting etc.. are miles better than 1 1 was just pretty much the same colour all the way thru apart from the imulsion 2 changes loads thru the game

Ive just done Ac1 on insane on my own and its a total different beast now. Tickers instant death if your near em and shoot em or they go off. Mobs standard gun 3shots max and your dead (sometimes 2). If you pop your head out of cover and 2 mobs fire on you at same time you instantly die. Its definetly harder than insane on GOW1.

[Dogg Thang]

I love the game but already commented that I didn't buy the Locust location. But, Charlie, you said you were a huge Gears fan. The same issue applies to the original - most human areas felt like they could be real places, the Locust areas did not. And all areas had blindingly obvious cover level design. What's changed?

[Charlie]

I think Act 4 is the best Act. Im spoiloring it just incase

->Open Spoiler<-

Theirs plenty of switches for the Locust to use when your going in. They have to get in just like you and also get out and Ive had the little buggers use them on me! They wouldnt have even thought about defence when it was built as noone went down their for years and years they went up and attacked the humans not the other way around (you here marcus and dom talking in one when they first go down that its years since anyone set foot down their and marcus goes on to say dont tell cole as hes scared of the dark as it is). Its only now the humans are starting to take the fight to them. We still dont know how it was all built and why yet either lol So no it didnt leave me with the same impressions as you had lol Just coming back from 2 after another playthru of 1 the colours and lighting etc.. are miles better than 1 1 was just pretty much the same colour all the way thru apart from the imulsion 2 changes loads thru the game

Ive just done Ac1 on insane on my own and its a total different beast now. Tickers instant death if your near em and shoot em or they go off. Mobs standard gun 3shots max and your dead (sometimes 2). If you pop your head out of cover and 2 mobs fire on you at same time you instantly die. Its definetly harder than insane on GOW1.

Compared to the original the graphics, generally speaking, are much better, especially the facial expressions, lighting, armour/weapon detail and stuff like that but I stand by my statement that, in parts, it looks very rough and hurried and, in spite of the obvious improvements to the Unreal engine, I wasn't impressed with the design of much of the areas or the architecture and that, in my eyes at least, removed a lot of the aesthetic gloss.

As for playing on insane, I agree, it's really the only way to fly as you gain a much deeper appreciation of the surrounding cover and how to use it efficiently and intelligently. I thought it (insane) much easier than the original though, and my most difficult and frustrating times were almost always when Dom decided to go charging into battle only to be downed in a place where I had no chance of reviving him without being torn to pieces. I lost count of the times that happened but, to be fair, the AI is generally very good and Dom probably got me out of trouble much more than he got me into it.

I love the game but already commented that I didn't buy the Locust location. But, Charlie, you said you were a huge Gears fan. The same issue applies to the original - most human areas felt like they could be real places, the Locust areas did not. And all areas had blindingly obvious cover level design. What's changed?

Do you mean the Locust station at the end of Act 3 in the original? I can't remember it that well but will check it out as I've been meaning to play through the game again.

[Dogg Thang]

Yes, that's the bit I meant but I replayed it just now and, actually, it doesn't suffer from the same criticisms as GoW2. In my memory, it was the area that just didn't seem like it fit to me and the whole locust tunnel thing just didn't seem that worked out. While that still stands, the area works as almost all of it is human mining zones.

So I actually completely agree with you on that point.

I have no real problem with gameplay contrivances like activating the barriers or whatever but (spoilered just to be sure)

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the actual design didn't work for me at all. The design does not in any way sit with the Locust. Now, you could theorist that these are ancient ruins and the Locust are just passing through. That would certainly seem to fit better with me but doesn't quite fit with this citadel idea set up in the game. There's no hint that the Locust exist as a society or civilisation.

It may sound odd but the thing that really bugged me was the cage design. Didn't fit with anything. Not the environment. Not the Locust design or what we see of their clothes and weapons. Probably just stood out because we see so many of them.

So, yeah, I agree with you on that.

[Uli]

finished Act 1 (hardcore) in co-op with a mate. so far, the game didn't grab me like the first one did. can't really tell why, but it's slightly disappointing.

we didn't enjoy the driving sequence at all, felt kind of rubbish.

[SUMIRE]

I just completed this. I thought it was very good, the last bit was the best, I just wish it was like that all the way through. The driving section were okish, but I hated the flying bits.

[Charlie]

The (second) flying bit reminded me of the speeder bike chase through the Endor forest in Star Wars Return of the Jedi.

[Dogg Thang]

There's definitely a Panzer Dragoon influence in there too, as was pointed out earlier in the thread. I loved them to be honest, though the earlier vehicle sections did nothing for me (yet still an improvement over the original's driving section).